And we have a walker!

Tomorrow our sweet Nora will be one! And look what she did today!

She has been doing one or two steps for a week or two, but this morning amped things up with four and five step combos. Then this afternoon-tada! She started walking across the room! We are so proud of her. : ) And excited to have the big big birthday tomorrow!

House tour!

 Well, you asked for it, here's how our house is looking these days. In the photos, it's a little bit messy in some pictures. This is unrepresentative because it is normally a LOT messy. But I took the opportune time when the girls were asleep and I had just vacuumed to shoot these photos. I'm so sorry for the lens smudge in the corner of my last 50 or so shots. I finally cleaned it off today. Yeah, I'm not one of those photographer-junkie bloggers. But at least I remembered to clean it at last. : D Hope you enjoy the tour.

Sum-sum-summertime

Evidence

Nora is almost one! I can't believe it! But she has been doing her best to make me try to believe it with the following tricks:

Feeding herself with a spoon

Making bigger messes than she used to be capable of

Learning to walk! She has even taken a few steps on her own, but doesn't seem that excited about it yet.

Return to wonderland

 Last weekend we went up to the Boston area for my cousin's beautiful wedding. She lives in California and the event was full of Hollywood glamour. It was really fun! But one of my favorite parts of our trip was visiting the little neighborhood rocky beach we used to play at when we would take summer vacations to Cape Cod when I was little. "Up North" used to seem like a magical wonderland to me, since I was accustomed to Florida where it is always hot and sticky, and you pretty much never bump into 100 year old houses or rocky beaches with hermit crabs. I loved it there. And going back I remember why! It seems a little smaller than I remembered, but it still felt like such a special and beautiful place. One of the highlights of my life will be playing there for a little while with my girls and seeing them just as taken by it as I was when I was little. They both cried when we had to go, and I kind of wanted to too. But it was good we left when we did, because I was acquiring a terrific sunburn.

This picture is of Nora being a great sport on our now family legendary 18 hour travel day, which began at 4:45 am and ended at 9:30 pm. She was to puke in the car, rendering her carseat completely disgusting, shortly after this (about 15 hours into the trip).

But, ahhhhh. Thankfully we put all that behind us the next day. Here we are at the beach in Pocasset.

Prairie Home sweet home

You'll remember that last summer, Paul and I went to a show put on by the Prairie Home Companion crew, and it was just wonderful. We really love to listen to that show on the radio and since I had never heard of it before I met Paul, it is very much linked with our relationship in my mind. So, providentially, they were recording a live broadcast in Raleigh on our exact 5 year anniversary date. Of course, we went! We brought the girls along and had a really nice time. Here is the opening of the show (and us (me) being nerdy about it).

Finger faces

One day, when it was late afternoon and we were running out of things to do, I drew a face on my finger and made it talk to Ella. I had no concept of how big of a hit this would become. In Ella's mind, the absolute best thing to do with a pen now is draw faces on your fingers. All your fingers. And the palm of your hand. They do look friendly, I must say. Maybe that is the big appeal--12 little friends standing by (at hand? ; D )  if you need them.